William Harrison Guilford was born: 22
Oct 1838 in Llanvair, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales where his
parents John and Ann Gilford were living at the time -

Llanfair Kilgeddin (Welsh:
Llanfair Cilgedin) is a small village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales
and is located four miles north west of Usk and six miles south east
of Abergavenny on the B4598 road. The River Usk passes close by.
Tin and coal mines in the location
provided employment to the town's residents. The family returned to
Easton Royal, Wiltshire and in 1850 boarded the "Castle Eden" (the next
ship after the famous first four) landing at Lyttleton 28 Jan
1851. William's life was as a bushman, sawyer and farmer
and he died 30 Oct 1906 in Tarata, Taranaki and is buried
there.

William was twelve when he arrived at
Christchurch and immediately joined the bustling work force. Labour was in
high demand. His first job for John Hay at Pigeon Bay, gave him an
introduction to what was to become his life's work. The only access unless
by sea, was by a Maori track which ran through the bush. Men were employed
to cut a track through the trees, scrub and undergrowth to a width of 6
feet and trees were sawn for timber for housing, posts, rails and
firewood. (John Hay 1856, explored the Mackenzie country and after
marriage, took up land at Tekapo.)

William next found employment with Robert Caverhill
then did bushwork in April 1856 at Kaiapoi. His name on the 1857
electoral roll - "William Guilford; Church Bush (between Woodend and
Kaiapoi.) Sawyer; Leasehold" By this time, the Papanui Bush at
Christchurch was nearly cut
out and so sizeable numbers of men travelled north to the bush lands of
Kaiapoi. The area was a frontier town and the only social interaction for
the sawyers was found at the hotels. On their days off they broke loose
with lawless, drunken behaviour. The more conservative pioneers in the
community saw a complete breakdown of social order and requested a goal be
built, and a policeman to keep the peace. ( An early settler was the
licencee of the Kaiapoi Hotel, Robert Hamlett, had also travelled on the
"Eden Castle", and a good friend of the Guilfords.) The timber industry was usually a two or three
man operation - men formed a partnership and applied together for a
licence to work a section - usually by pit saw. This method of sawing
logs or timbers, into boards, in which the piece to be cut is laid
horizontally across a pit and cut by a saw operated vertically by two
people, one above and one in the pit below the piece. It required great
skill and patience to manoeuvre the great logs into position on the pit
skids with Treweller jacks and crowbars. Large logs were first split down
the middle parallel to the "shake" - the slight natural fault found in
most logs. Securelt blocked to keep it stteady, the half log with it's
flat side uppermost was set on the pit. A string smeared with charcoal and
water paste was snapped on the flat surface to mark the cut. The
man on top was called the "Top Man." He lifted the saw and guided the saw.
The man 6 ft below, on the bottom was the "Pit Man," who pulled the saw
downward and away from him , supplying most of the energy it took to
saw the wood. He often got sawdust in his eyes, and always in his hair and
down the back of his neck. The saw cut only on the down stroke. It is said
that the term "That's the pits" may have come from the discomforts of
being a pitman. The rhythmical stroke of pitsawing required team work and
looked deceptively easy as the crosscut saw cut deep along the line. A
cavas fly protected sawyers from the rain and sun.

The work was
exceedingly hard and carried out in primitive conditions, but it was
possible for bushmen to make an reasonable living for themselves in a
short time. Wages were good, 1/- an hour. Some of the men lived in rough
whares thatched with flax and raupo but most made do with canvas tents for
shelter. All their food had to be carried in and was very basic and was
supplemented with pigs and wild fowl. The mosquito was the biggest curse
to a sawyer's life. The forest swamp was a perfect breeding ground and
nets were needed to cover beds at night and a fire lit to deter their
entry.

Canterbury rivers still had no bridges and were
crossed by ferry. The fencing and firewood cut was taken by small craft
who, despite floods during January and February and the difficulties with
high tides, plied the tributaries between Kaiapoi and and Heathcote. Henry
John's diary states that his brother left when "the bush was worked out"
however in 1859, the whole of the Native Bush and a good proportion of the
Church Bush were destroyed by fire. This wiped out the economic base of
the region and it is likely that it was then that William, like so many
others, left the area.

In 1859, William, worked at Arowhenua but in October
here too, a large part of the bush including £2000 of sawn timber was
burnt out in that particularly hot summer. Sparks blown from fires of
workers boiling billies caused most fire outbreaks. At the Pleasant Valley
bush, one of the earliest settlements in South Canterbury, the bush was
able to provide many with work, William did pit sawing. 20 acre blocks of
dense bush were available for purchase - totara, white and black pine and
manuka. The freehold value was set at £12 an acre at the 928 acre
Raukapuka Bush; the Waihi Bush was 2052 acre in extent and valued at £6
and Peel Forest of 1460 acres at £7. The sawyers lived in V huts thatched
with totara bark.

On April 10th. 1860, William Guilford left for Victoria from
Timaru on the coastal passenger ship "Corsair" which sailed between
Australia New Zealand. (Ref. L. Times. 10/4/1860) While there he did
bushwork and goldmining and returned

1861 - William again left for Melbourne as a miner on
the ship "Genii" leaving on 12 September 1861 for Melbourne
and returned 30 Aug 1862 to Port Chalmers on the ship "Alfred
Lemont" in 1862 (Src: LDS Film 0284490) to again work in the Geraldine
area.

William helped in the building of St Anne's Church by pit sawing timber. All
residents would have viewed its construction with pride, and it remains
today, the oldest surviving church in South Canterbury. Pleasant Valley
was a busy forestry area, more prosperous than Geraldine. A landowner gave
the land, men of all denominations gave their time and used their horses,
bullocks, drays and tools to help with the building and the builder and
the carpenter donated their time. The building was used by various
denominations for their services, and a lasting monument to all who
volunteered their labour. The parish register 1863 to 1870 records the
varied occupations of those Valley pioneers - Innkeeper,
bullockdriver, landed estate owner, contractor, merchant, sawyer,
gentleman farmer, joiner, mail contractor, shepherd, boundary rider,
governess, wheelwright, domestic servant, shoemaker, gardener, blacksmith
and labourer. Again, voluntary labour built the first school also across
the riverbed opposite the church on Section 3608. On 17 Aug 1874 James Guilford, William's brother and a sawyer, living at Geraldine, married Catherine Lynch at St Annes.

Another fire swept through the Arowhenua Bush on the
6th and 7th of January 1863 and large quantities of sawmiller's sawn timber,
firewood, fencing materials as well as their cottages and a
number of Maori huts went up in flames fanned by the violent
nor'wester.

In 1864 sections had been gazetted for Geraldine
township. 300 acres of the original 400 acre Talbot Forest, black and
white pine and totara, had after clearing, been set aside. It was
originally part of the Raukapuka sheep run owned by Cox, and was to meet
the requirements of the sawyers of the area. After felling, the land was
very wet and covered with flax and manuka scrub but the town began to
flourish with the rapidly expanding population.

August 1864 - For relaxation, settlers
introduced greyhound and horse racing and horses from all over Canterbury
competed in the events (Pre-race Advertising) "A great sporting
event is to be held in Pleasant Valley and it is proposed to have five
races in all - the Valley Race, Innkeeper's Purse, Geraldine Cup, Hurdle
Race and Consolation Stakes. Subscriptions to a considerable amount have
been received to provide the prizes. The first race is for horses owned by
residents of the Valley but the rest is open to all horses that have never
won public money. "

The report after the event read - "The races produced
a capital "bill of fare"! Lots of horses on the track, and the people
willing to enjoy themselves. There was of course the usual quantity of
barrack and a few fights. Some results for the £10 prize money were Mr
Bull's Lucy, Mr Guildford's Gypsey (sic), Mr Massey's Maniac, Mr Bull's
Jenny, Mr Massey's Inflarnation and Mr McPherson's Wanderer. There was a
protest on the last hurdle race because the winner did not jump
the first hurdle fairly. The owners decided to divide the stakes to
prevent disputes.

William went to Hokitika on the West Coast in 1865 but later
that year returned to Pleasant Valley. 1866 - Intentions to Marry:
22 Aug William Guilford, Batchelor, Sawyer aged 27 years who had been
living at Pleasant Valley 3 years to marry at the Benbow House, Temuka to
Ann Benbow, spinster aged 17 years living at Temuka 1 month - father Wm
Benbow gave permission to marry, Rev Brown (District 1289)
William's name spelt "Guildford" on the Marriage register.
Because Ann was a minor, her father William Benbow gave his consent
to his daughter's marriage which took place at the Benbow home at
"Ladymoor" at Temuka.

Later that year, John Guilford made a gift to his
son of the land he had bought at Arowhenua and half the 10 acres Raukapuka
block as a wedding gift. By now, at Pleasant Valley, besides the church
and school, there was a large general store run by Mendleson and Morris
and a public house. After his marriage, William became it's licensee, an
occupation, no doubt at odds with John Guilford's religious views.
The Laws and Regulations of the Weslayan Methodist Church state; "The
Methodist Church regards intemperance as among the most serious moral and
social evils, and requires its members and adherants to promote such
legislative measures as aim at the restraint or extinction of liquor
traffic."

Other early Pleasant Valley settlers were John Bull, Gale,
William Bennet - William Guilford had his land to the left of
the church, Section 3607, and he combined farming with bush work and the
last three were all licensees to the Public house at various times.
William together with S. Ferguson, owned section No 7426. The date of this
purchase is not known, but it is remembered by Ferguson's Road. They sold
this on 28th September 1866 to Thomas Hardcastle for £50. Hardcastle had
settled in the area in 1863 and had the first dairy herd and he provided
milk to the tree-fellers and sawmillers who did not have their own house
cow.

On Monday 29th July 1867, rain started and there was very
heavy flooding throughout Canterbury and the sky cleared on August 3rd to
reveal the low snow. On August 10th, Ann and William celebrated the safe
arrival of their first child whom they called Ann
Elizabeth.

•13 Sept 1867 Timaru Herald: AROWHENUA. The Valley races
take place on Thursday, but we are quite ignorant yet of the programme,
&c, perhaps it is policy to keep it dark. There is to be a ball in the
evening at Mr Guildford's Valley Hotel

•14 Sept 1867 Timaru Herald: PLEASANT VALLEY RACES,
A Ball and Supper is to be held at GUILDFORD'S On the evening of
the Arowhenua Races which will take place on
Thursday, the 17th day of October next. Programme and particulars in
future issue. W. MASSEY, Hon. Sec. September 13, 1867.

Races results recorded at Pleasant Valley on September
19, 1867. Stewards were Dr Caro, G Dyson and J Gammock. The Judge was
Thomas Hardcastle.

In the evening a dinner and ball was held at W Guilford's
hotel, Pleasant Valley. (One can only marvel how Ann, now 18, with a month
old baby coped but no doubt the whole community came together to assist,
as was the custom then.)

Henry John Guilford, builder and bushman, spent
some time with his brother William at Pleasant Valley and together
they built the Guilford house which is still lived in today. In this
home, William and Ann spent the next 36 years bringing up their large
family until they moved to Tarata in 1902. Brother James Guilford came
also to the Geraldine area.

On the 2nd and 3rd February 1868, there were again violent
storms and the heaviest flood known resulting in property loss and ten
lives. Over 8" rain fell in 24 hours, and it was said that the plains were
a lake of water from the Washdyke to the Opihi. The small Pleasant
Valley School was washed away, and winter brought more storms, flooding
and heavy snow and many sheep lost.

This photo of children at Pleasant Valley is held by a
Guilford descendant. She said it was sent to the Education Board
requesting a new schooI - it is unknown if one was replaced on the
original site or whether a room in a home was used. In
1875, the South Canterbury Education Board built a new one over the bridge on
Section 3608. Mrs Bennett who ran a boarding house for sawmillers had been
teacher till then and Mr. Bethune was the new teacher and
started with a roll of 21.

Conditions : 1: All the premises to be
kept in good repair. To provide in his house, besides the
tap-room, or room answering as such, one public and one private
sitting-room. 2: To provide not less than eight beds for
travellers, in not less than six separate bed-rooms. 3: To provide a
shed sufficiently weather-tight, and fit for the accommodation of at least
six horses. 4: At all. times to keep a proper supply of water for the
house, and for horses and cattle. 5: To keep at all times a proper supply
of oats and oaten or grass hay. Oats to be charged for to travellers at
not more than 3d per quart, and to be always served out with the
authorised quart measure. 6: To provide and keep in repair a good and
sufficient stockyard for cattle, containing a superficial area of not less
than 225 square yards. For the occupation of this yard during the night,
the licensee may make a charge at rates not exceeding the following, viz.
: — Twopence per head for all cattle under 50 in number, and one
penny per head for all over that number. 7: To provide and keep in repair a
good and sufficient moveable sheep-proof yard, containing a superficial
area of not less than 900 square yards ; or, at the option of the
licensee, to keep one acre of land enclosed by a permanent sheep-proof
fence. For the occupation of this yard or paddock during the night, the
licensee may make a charge at rates not exceeding the following, viz.
: Sixpence per score for all sheep under 300 in number;
fourpence per score for all over that number and under 500 ; and twopence
per score for all over 500. 8: To keep a lamp burning, with
two burners, from sunset to sunrise, giving a sufficiently bright light,
and being so lighted as to be conspicuous all round the house. 9: To be
sworn m and act as a constable, especially when required by Magistrates or
the Police. 10: On all occasions to render every assistance, and to
supply information to Magistrates and to the Police in the execution
of their duty. 11: To keep a clean and orderly house, and to render it as
comfortable for the accommodation of travellers, as the circumstances of
position and distance from towns will allow.

William and Ann Guilford's house, lived in still today,
beside the Pleasant Valley Church. This cottage accommodated their
large family. See the House photographed March 2013

The floods caused William (and affected many other settlers)
to get into financial difficulty and to meet his commitments came a
forced sale: "TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION, at the GUILDFORD PLEASANT VALLEY
HOTEL, on FRIDAY, 22nd MAY NEXT, At 12 o'clock, (Unless the above action
shall be previously settled), A quantity of Household Furniture and
Effects Two Horses, Harness, Dray, and Potatoes Sale at 12 o'clock. Terms
Cash. HENRY FORWARD, Bailiff.

On the 19th April 1869, the year following the flood,
William (hotelkeeper) sold the 94 acre Arowhenua section No 3149 gifted to
him by his father, to Thomas Hawke of Temuka, a farmer for £400 (No. 24
866) J W White Solicitor.

A welcome POST OFFICE NOTICE! Mails are now made up for Waihi Crossing, Geraldine, Pleasant Valley, Waihi Bush. and Upper Rangitata, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, at 3 pm. Mails are also made up for PleasanT Point on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, at 3 pm. Post Office, Timaru, February 12, 1873 - previously settlers had to go into Timaru for sending and reciept of mail.

12 May 1873: From Mr William Guildford and others,
requesting the Geraldine Road Board to shingle a portion of the road
between Campbell's fence and Flanigan'a cutting. Resolved " the shingling
be deferred until the road is sufficiently consolidated.

On the 12th 1877 an inquest was held at the Crown Hotel,
Geraldine when William and Ann's 6th child child James Guilford died
aged three years of age at Pleasant Valley before B. Woollcombe, Esq.,
Coroner, and a jury. Dr Fish gave evidence to the effect that death had
resulted from inflammation of the lungs, and the verdict was in accordance
with the medical testimony.

By now having a burgeoning family, William was elected
onto the Pleasant Valley School Committee and June 1877 community
concerns were expressed that additions to the replacement school
buildings were needed and more land. The Committee decided to recommend
the purchase of five acres from Mr D. Gregon, because of its suitability
and on account of its central situation. The average attendance at
the school during the month was 56, and and the highest number present in
one day was 71.

In 1878 there had been little rain for months. Lopped and discarded
branches left by millers became tinder dry and on November 15, 1878 sparks
from a smouldering log on a section being cleared by a man named Whittaker, were
carried by the high wind. By 6

o'clock that evening the flames had spread through fifty
acres of
the Raukapuka. That night, the flames reached the hills behind Geraldine
and people in the town were suffocating with the smoke. Fire brigades came as
far away as
Temuka but their primative equipment could do little against the wall of
advancing flames. By the 23rd November, the fire
was still raging and had reached the sawmillers in the Kakahu Valley area.
By the time the wind died away, most of the Raukapuka forest except for
isolated pockets, was a smouldering ruin.

By now the tide of fortune had moved away from Pleasant Valley
and the store moved in 1880 to Geraldine. Ann and
William Guilford first attended St Anne's Church and here daughters Elizabeth and Henrietta were christened,
but about 1870 a Geraldine Brethren group formed and met first in a small room on the main street at Geraldine conducted by a Mrs Andrews. The room was wanted so a little hall was built by "love labour" - several
bushmen connected with the Brethren, busy cutting timber that was taken to Timaru by road, gave their labour and it was likely that William was one. The building was surrounded by flax and was near today's Geraldine
Transport site. It was moved next to the site of the present Roman Catholic Church in Peel Street. Because quite a number of the Brethren congregation lived at Pleasant Valley, the custom was to hold meetings on alternate Sundays at each place. All members, mothers with babies in their arms, walked the nearly five miles, over the Downs to meet - one Sunday in the small hall they had built themselves and the next in the valley in different members homes and later in a large room of the Valley Hotel now owned by Mr Best. He had abandoned his licence to meet with them and turned his Pub's bar into a Gospel Hall. After the small Geraldine building and the site were sold, the Brethren met in the Oddfellow's hall. (Ref. "Morrisons of Geraldine")

In January 1880 tenders were considered for the formation
of Guildford's road (brother James Guildford and Co.,
tender of £37 12s 6d was accepted). This was the route that William took
pit sawn timber over to have it dressed at Geraldine.

Pleasant Valley School - The only child identified is Frank
Guilford circled however, a descendant has named these:

In Feb: 1880 W Guilford was elected Chairman of school
committee at a meeting which ten householders attendedIn
March 1880 William and others asked the Geraldine Road Board if they could
reduce reduce the grades and shingle the road on the Geraldine Downs and
this was agreed to

In Jan. 1881, Mr William Guilford
re-elected Chairman for the ensuing year. Report stated Eleven
meetings had been held during tho year with an average attendance of
five members. 150 trees to be plant at the schools grounds and
fencing stonepicking done. Except for a few small repairs needed the
buildings were in good repair. and teaching staff were appointed. The
attendanco had steadily incrensed especially during the last half -
numbers on the roll, 70 ; and good for a rural school the average
attendance, 6O.

1883 At the annual meeting of householders in the Pleasant
Valley Mr W. Guilford was unanimously elected Chairman. Also
elected on the Committee, B. Trumper, A. Kennedy, A. Lysaght, B Brophy, J.
Gregan and G. Gale being chosen. A meeting of the new Committee was held
subsequently, and Mr W. Guilford was . Some small accounts were passed for
payment, the length of the harvest holidays fixed, namely, four weeks, to
Monday, February 19th, and the Committee adjourned.

24 Aug 1883: J MUNDELL & CO. have been
favored with instructions from Mr William Guildford to Sell by Public
Auction, at their Sale Rooms, Geraldine, SATURDAY, 25in AUGUST, 1883, 54
Acres of LAND, adjoining the property of B. Bailey, Esq., and in close
proximity to the Geraldine Township. The Property is well watered, and a
valuable lot of live timber thereon. Sale 1 o'clock.

•1885 Sept 1885: Civil cases were heard as follows :— B.
Bayley v. Wm. Guilford, claim £11 Is for destruction of 18 sheep while
driving them out of defendant's paddock. There was at the same time
hearing a cross action Wm. Guilford v. B. Bayley, claim £12 10s for
trespass of 250 sheep at 3d per day, four days. Dr Foßter appeared for
Bayley, and Mr Hamersley for Guilford. From the evidence given it was
shown Bayley's sheep had been in Guilford's paddock on several occasions,
but on the particular occasion for which the claim was made Guilford saw
the sheep in his paddock, and instructed his boys, one of 15 and the
second 12 years of age, to drive, the sheep out, it being about 7 p.m. and
a very bright moonlight night (he having other business to attend to). The
boys tried to get the sheep over the best fords or crossings in the gully,
but having no dogs the sheep ran up the hill to Bayley's fence, but not
being able to cross the gully there, in coming down the hill 18 of them
were smothered, the rest getting across the gully to Bayley's paddock in
safety. Bayley alleged that sufficient care was not exercised in driving
the sheep ; boys being sent to do the work, and it being done at night.
Guilford showed that the sheep had often trespassed upon the land beyond
the times for which he charged. This was not contradicted by the opposite
side, and his charge being in accordance with the First Schedule of the
Impounding Act, 1881, Mr Guilford's solicitor considered he had a good
case for trespass. With regard to the sheep smothered Mr Hamersley
contended that due care had been exercised in driving the sheep out of the
paddock, and that a charge of gross negligence could not be substantiated.

During the 1880'a New Zealand suffered a depression. There was high unemployment in the cities yet the poplation was growing mainly because of immigration. In the South Island small farmers were being squeezed by the wool barons and the government altered the tax to favour small farmers. Wool was a major export but now successful refrigeration of meat and butter began. William raised crops of oats and wheat at Pleasant Valley and good yields of up to 60 bushels of oats and 40 of wheat were achievable per acre after the land was brought into cultivation.

10 Mar 1898, Page 3 Geraldine Road Board: The overseer was
instructed to attend to work asked for by Mr W. Guilford at Pleasant
Valley and report upon the matter re willows growing on the boundary road
river crossing.

Press, 3
March 1911, Page 9

THE PIT SAWYERS. The sawing of timber by the pit
sawyers had been going on in the Pleasant Valley bush prior to its being
started in the Raukapuka bush. This bush, though rather more distant from
Temuka, was more accessible on account of there being a better road to it.
Among the first settlers and sawyers in "The Valley," as it is usually
called, were Messrs W. Grace, A. Best (who had an accommodation house), W.
Bennett, Jas. Reid, Jas. Fergusson, George, Thomas and Charles Meredith,
Wm. and Jas. Guilford, T. Patterson, G. Nicholas, W. Grace, jun., S.
Taylor, W. Young, and J. Bull. In the Waihi bush, Mr W. Scott, who had
previously been sawing in the Raukapuka bush for Mr Cox, was the first to
commence work, splitting fencing material for the Raukapuka station.
Messrs Taylor and Flatman, who had been carting with bullock teams between
Timaru and the Mackenzie Country, afterwards started a sawmill in the
Waihi bush, and it continued working there till the timber at the lower
end was cut out, Messrs Penny and Webb having a sawmill at the upper end.
The inevitable fire followed the bushmen, and swept the bush from end to
end. Messrs Taylor and Flatman also carried on a store at Woodbury, as the
township at the Waihi bush is called. The Kakahu bush subsequently claimed
the attention of the bushmen, and as with the other sources of timber
supply, including the smaller bushes on what was formerly known as Rhubarb
Flat, and now Te Moana, it was ultimately "cut out." The timber industry,
which was one of the firsthand most important in the Geraldine district,
came to an end, and many of the old sawyers and bushmen afterwards became
successful farmers or business men. Some of these hardy old pioneers are
living still in or near their early homes, and none are more proud of
their district its fertility and climate, and its peaceful
surroundings than they
are.